


Infinity on High

by peachbunny



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, chaebol!Ong x singer!Minhyun, model!Jihoon x bodyguard!Daniel, unresolved tension everywhere
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-04 10:12:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14590797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachbunny/pseuds/peachbunny
Summary: Odd-job worker Kang Daniel crashes into the life of high-end model Park Jihoon - literally. With a taxi cab. Into a Maserati. On a late night in front of the Ritz.So naturally, Jihoon takes him in as a bodyguard (because what else do you do with people who crash into your car), and Daniel’s life is thrown into a sophisticated mess of high-end runway shows and luxury brands and constantly being assaulted by the handsome visual that is Park Jihoon - but they’re both in for the thrill ride of their lives when they realize that Jihoon is more than just a pretty face, and Daniel is more than a part-time worker-turned-bodyguard.Meanwhile, chaebol heir Ong Seongwoo chances upon bar singer Hwang Minhyun - and for the first time in his life, he wants something he can’t have.





	1. Infinity on High

“We’re almost at the venue, sir.”

 

Jihoon rolls his eyes but mumbles a polite thank you to the chauffeur and shuts the panel that separated them as he readjusts the lapels on his suit and stretches his legs out from underneath him. Everything Jihoon wears is branded or tailored,  _ each detail definitely precise  _ \- he muses as he adjusts the cufflinks on the coat - like he was something painstakingly prepared for display. Even the mousse that held his chocolate brown hair up in a tousled hairdo must have been imported from some expensive European city, to match with everything else he was dolled up in (some weird match of Valentino and Dior and something else). 

 

“So you can’t visit and celebrate this weekend?” a voice crackles from the feature phone he holds close to his ear - a different one from the latest iPhone that pulsed warmly on his lap.

 

“I told you, Woojin, I’m trying,” he hisses into the cheap feature phone while fiddling with the other studded smartphone - it seems Seongwoo had left a couple of annoying messages for the evening. “But I got pulled into another evening to be paraded in front of prospective clients. Again.”  

 

Several beats of silence. 

 

“Must be hard, huh?” Woojin’s voice came a bit softer this time and Jihoon has to look outside. 

 

“Are you kidding me? I’m living in the lap of luxury,” Jihoon hopes that his bravado carried all the way to the other line. Because to be honest, he wanted nothing more than for all of this to be over.  _ It’s hard _ , he thinks as he listens to Woojin cheerily spout out a goodbye; meaning his facade had worked -  _ it’s hard, and I’m alone, and I want to come back home. Especially today. _

 

“You lucky bastard,” Woojin replies, the teasing bite back in his tone.

 

“The luckiest,” Jihoon answers before uttering a quick goodbye.

 

He clamps the phone shut and buries it under the carpet (where the chauffeur will never look), flicking the iPhone screen alive to browse through the messages from Seongwoo.

 

**Ong Seongwoo**

_ i’ve already found a few old ladies who are interested! In you _

 

**Ong Seongwoo**

_ never mind, I think the representative from Gucci wants you more _

 

**Ong Seongwoo**

_ also, Uncle said you better choose a bodyguard already or we’ll just hire the most thug-looking one _

 

**Ong Seongwoo**

_ I told him no jihoonie already acts like a thug don’t encourage it !!! lol _

 

**Ong Seongwoo**

_ but no really, we need to get you a bodyguard by TONIGHT _

 

**Ong Seongwoo**

_ When are you getting here again? _

 

Jihoon sighs. He’s been through client engagements almost a hundred times now, he’s met with dozens of editors and fashion designers and company CEOs, but the sickening feeling still crept up his chest. He starts to type a response to Seongwoo when -

 

_ BLAM.  _

 

Jihoon is jolted forward by an impact to the side of the car, making him drop the phone onto the floor. He hurriedly picks it up to check if he had cracked the new phone (Seongwoo wouldn't be too happy with that), before rolling down the window to see that he was already at the driveway of the Ritz. It’s exactly as he remembers it - marble pillars holding up an intricate arrangement of hanging lights against a criss-crossed dome - but the real showstopper was the dinky old cab lodged against the side of the Maserati he was riding.

 

The driver of the cab steps out - and Jihoon is half-expecting to see a drunk middle-aged cabbie - except it’s a tall boy with dirty blonde hair resting on his broad shoulders, dressed up in red flannel, ripped jeans, and boots that had seen better days.

 

The huge boy looked positively panicked - inspecting the damage on the car as Jihoon’s chauffeur killed the engine, asked him to stay put, and gingerly went down to march over to the scene of the crime. 

 

***

 

Daniel did not need this tonight - he was just one last ride away from meeting his share of the rent - and now he bumps into the most expensive looking car this side of the driveway. His passengers - a drunken old man and a girl caked in concealer threw a few bills onto his plate before jumping out of the cab to avoid the ensuing fiasco; because the chauffeur of the Maserati, all dressed in some expensive navy suit, was fuming as he approached Daniel. 

 

“Sir, it wasn’t-” the blonde boy tried going for the humility card, hands pulling nervously at the hem of his flannel shirt.

 

“How could you miss a huge white car right in front of you!” the chauffeur hissed, putting hands on both hips as he surveyed the damage. There was a very noticeable bump on the side of the Maserati, glossy finish marred by the cheap white paint that rubbed off the old cab. 

 

“I was, I- I’m sorry,” Daniel stuttered out. The damages could easily reach millions of won in settlement. There was no way he could drag Minhyun and Jaehwan to pay for that.

 

“Are you drunk-driving, boy?” the gruff old chauffeur replied.

 

“No, no, sir, never,” Daniel waves hands in front of his face. He couldn’t explain that the randy girl on the passenger seat covered his eyes out of nowhere, whispering an invitation to a  _ threesome  _ in an attempt to flirt with the young cab driver as her drunken date snored loudly beside her. It sounded so stupid in his mind that Daniel could not bring himself to tell the chauffeur that his passenger covered his eyes just as he made the turn into the hotel driveway.

 

“Well, this won’t fix itself,” the chauffeur sighed, exasperated. He didn’t own the car, but this was going to come out of his salary if he lets the nervous young cab driver off the hook that easily. 

 

“It’s fine, Mr. Yoo,” a low voice piped up from the other side of the vehicle, and Daniel looks up to see the passenger in the Maserati slowly tap the door closed. “I can explain everything to Seongwoo.” 

 

Daniel didn’t want to stare, but he was forced to. The smaller boy that stood beside the pearlescent white of the Maserati strongly contrasted against his idea of the rich old passenger he was expecting inside. He was all coiffed brown hair, big beautiful eyes, plump lips in a dangerously red shade, charcoal coat over broad shoulders draped in a crisp royal blue dress shirt, and all that tucked into dark pants trailing down into patent leather shoes. 

 

He looked like he came straight out of a magazine.

 

“Sir Jihoon,” the chauffeur, Mr. Yoo, protests. “I told you to stay put inside, sir.” 

 

“We’re already at the venue,” Jihoon grins. “I’ll be fine, Mr. Yoo, and you can leave the cabbie alone.” 

 

“Are you sure, sir?” Yoo scratched his head, hesitantly retreating to drive the Maserati into the parking lot. 

 

“A hundred percent,” Jihoon innocently nodded, and watched as Yoo got back into the damaged car and drive slowly forward, but instead of making his way into the hotel lobby - Jihoon pads carefully over to Daniel’s side. 

 

“You got time for one last passenger,” he takes Daniel by the shoulder and whispers beside his ear, and the older boy could feel goosebumps rising up his nape. The boy smelled of expensive perfume.

 

“No, my shift ends in a few minutes,” Daniel answers before internally smacking himself because that made him sound like an idiot. 

 

“It wasn’t a question,” Jihoon smirks up at him, makes his way to the passenger side of the cab, and jumps in.

 

Daniel looks vacantly at his own cab and at  _ everything that just happened _ in such a short period of time.

 

“Are you coming in, or am I going to drive away and leave you  _ cabless _ ,” Jihoon calls out. Daniel looks around, feels the eyes of the bellboys and hotel staff staring at him against the cold nighttime air, and he hurriedly goes back into the safety of the driver’s seat and buckles himself in.

 

“Drive,” Jihoon hisses, reaching over Daniel’s leg to turn the ignition switch on. 

 

“ _ What?”  _ Daniel was scandalized - this evening couldn’t get any weirder. 

 

“Drive me out of here, or I swear I’ll make you pay the damages on the Maserati, and I’ll tell old, faithful Mr. Yoo over there that you kidnapped me when he wasn’t looking,” Jihoon spoke rapid-fire, eyes trained carefully on the car in front of him. 

 

“I-” Daniel started, but his hands were automatically moving to the stick shift because  _ hell no he wasn’t a kidnapper and he didn’t have money to pay for damages to a luxury car. _

 

“Are you going to floor it, or am I going to have to step on your foot and  _ make you, _ ” Jihoon lifted an eyebrow, threatening. 

 

Daniel gulps as he revs the engine and they finally start moving forward. “Where to?” 

 

“ _ Anywhere _ ,” Jihoon grins as he rolls the window down and looks ahead as the midnight air started whipping in. 

  
  


***

  
  


He glances at the passenger seat as they sped through the highway - Daniel wondering where exactly  “anywhere” was - and he sees the younger boy wiping roughly at his mouth, a futile attempt to tone down the ruby red that tinted his lips. He must have stared a bit too obviously, because the boy ( _ Jihoon _ , Daniel makes a mental note to remember the name) stops and shoots him a look.

 

“Never seen a boy in lipstick before?” Jihoon growled before giving an exasperated sigh and lying back on his seat, patent leather shoes scuffing the dashboard of the taxi. 

 

“I have now,” Daniel responded as he raised an eyebrow. “I have some tissues in the glove compartment if you want to take it off.”  _ But that’d be a waste because those lips look amazing coated in that deep red gloss,  _ Daniel held himself off from saying. 

 

“I have a few better ideas on how I can take it off,” Jihoon smirked, earning a quick glance from Daniel. He unbuckles the seat belt and casually leans over to drape a hand over Daniel’s thigh. “Ever tasted cherry lipstick before?” 

 

The car stalled suddenly and Daniel cursed under his breath as he restarted the engine. Jihoon laughs - a childish sound that betrayed his true age - and Daniel whined, “Please don’t do that.” 

 

“I’m sorry, it’s a job hazard,” Jihoon explains before sitting upright and poking through the items in the glove compartment. “I’m too used to having to drop lines like that and I couldn’t resist.” His hands fumble with parking receipts, uncapped pens, small notepads, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, a packet of tissues, and something else.

 

“ _ Kang Daniel _ ,” Jihoon read out loud as he took out the laminated card, earning a split-second look from the driver. “This doesn’t look like a professional license. On second thought - this doesn’t look like a license  _ at all. _ ”  __

 

“Well, I’m driving you professionally enough, aren’t I?” Daniel shot back nervously, reaching over to take the fake license from his passenger’s hands and putting them in his back pocket. He knew the boy was trouble.

 

“I can cover the damages on your fender, you know,” Jihoon smirked, forgetting his personal mission to rub his lips dry if it meant getting the damned red lipstick off. “But I can’t explain to the police that the driver of the cab doesn’t even have the license to drive.”   
  
“That’s why I said, leave it,” Daniel bit at his lower lip, taking the right junction out of the highway. He had half a mind to just drop the brat in the middle of nowhere, the other half wanting to push him off the moving vehicle - still in the middle of nowhere. “I can handle the damages.” 

 

“But I can’t explain the ugly white paint job that scratched against the Pearlescent Bianco of the Maserati to my employer,” Jihoon grinned, enjoying the rise he was getting out of the older boy. 

 

Daniel put his feet on the brake, half-hoping that the boy didn’t wear the seatbelt properly and that he’d just hurtle through the windshield. If he was going to jail, might as well be for accidental homicide. But Jihoon sat there, eyes blinking up innocently at him, and Daniel had to hit his head against the steering wheel. 

 

“What do you want from me,  _ sir _ ? _ ”  _ Daniel whined, forehead still leaning against the wheel. “Listen, buddy, I’m just trying to make an honest job’s wage.” 

 

“Nothing honest with driving a cab without a license,” Jihoon clacked his tongue as he continued to tease the blonde.

 

“You don’t look all that honest yourself,” Daniel mumbles as he shut his eyes tight. He had to drive the cab today if he wanted to meet the rent for the flat he shared with two other guys - because Jaehwan, the one with an actual license, had a gig tonight. “Or you just enjoy lording it over the working class in your Gucci whatevers?”

 

Silence followed his question, and Daniel thinks he finally managed to shut the boy up. 

 

After a few moments he hears a click and the sound of the door opening. 

 

Daniel tilted his head to look at the younger man, expecting to see him on the passenger’s seat, only to find him languidly getting off the car and making his way to lean on the hood.

 

Daniel was internally debating whether he should start driving and run the boy over, but in the end he shuts off the engine and takes out the car keys. He gets off and leans on the cab’s hood opposite the boy. 

 

“Sorry,” Jihoon muttered, tapping his feet from where he sat. Daniel looked at him, surprised but wary - all he heard from the smaller boy was sarcastic comebacks and sharp one-liners so far. “I’m just...I’m so tired.”

 

Jihoon doesn’t know what made him crack like this, when he usually goes about his days with a porcelain mask and a well-practiced smile, and teased and riposted with careless abandon.

 

Why open up now - tonight of all nights, and with a random cabbie, of all people. Maybe it’s the fact that he’ll lose Daniel in the crowd after tonight - and it’s like he’s just whispering his troubles to the wind. 

 

Maybe it’s because he’s suddenly hit with the realization that it’s his birthday today, and he feels lonelier than usual. And he misses everyone more than usual.

 

“Tell me about it,” Daniel cracked his neck. It had been a full afternoon driving around people to this place and that, and this was the most conversation he’s had all day. 

 

“You never asked what I did for a living,” Jihoon muses as he gazes up at the sky.

 

“I’m not really interested in labels,” Daniel answers, following the smaller boy’s gaze into the infinity above them. It was a clear evening and he could pick out a few constellations clearly enough. “Like, I’m a cab driver but you don’t really know me if you limit me to just _ some “random cab driver” _ . You wouldn’t know that I like poetry, I like to dance, and I think stars are beautiful.” 

 

Jihoon looks at Daniel, surprised at the answer; but the older boy continued looking up, and talked like he was speaking with himself. 

 

“People often judge too fast based on the trivial things, based on what we judge people to be,” Daniel mumbles, arms crossed above the hood as he shifts his weight from one leg to the other. “Like appearances, or titles.”

 

“Well, what do you think of me?” Jihoon ventures, mildly shocked at the turn of the conversation. He was expecting some bawdy discussion with a low-brow cabbie, enthusiastic responses to his flirty advances, or plain silence. This was a pleasant surprise.

 

Daniel looks up at Jihoon and tries to fight back the warmth that was creeping up his neck - because Jihoon looked positively ethereal under the moonlight and the soft glow from inside the car. 

 

“I don’t know you well enough yet,” Daniel answers, forcing the words out of his mouth because he wanted to say something else entirely: because Jihoon looked beautiful, beautifully sad, a bit broken and a bit confused, grasping for attention. “Like what’s your favorite color, what’s a song that makes you cry, what makes you laugh until your sides hurt.” 

 

Jihoon laughs - genuinely this time, not the lilting laugh when he was trying to annoy the life out of Daniel a few minutes prior. It’s loud and unrestrained, alternating between hearty vocals and sharp intakes of breath.

 

“You’re weird,” Jihoon says simply, leaning back on the bumper as he drew his knees up into a hug and laid a gentle look on Daniel.  There’s a few moments of silence until Jihoon says, “My name is Park Jihoon, and I think stars are beautiful, too.” 

 

“They are,” Daniel replies too quickly, feeling his mouth go dry because the constellations above them could not compete with the unmapped constellations that sparkled brightly in Jihoon’s eyes. Each star begging to be named, each pattern crying to be immortalized. 

 

“Are you sure you don’t want to know what I do?” Jihoon raised an eyebrow, a teasing smile back on his lips. 

 

“Judging by the sheer amount of designer items on you,” Daniel decides to play along as he runs his eyes up and down Jihoon from head to toe, “You’re either the son of some rich CEO, or-” a teasing grin cracked on Daniel’s face - “you’re definitely a sugar baby.” 

 

This earns him a punch on the arm. 

 

“I’m neither,” Jihoon growled. “And while we’re at it, you don’t look like a cabbie - you look like some college dropout who sells weed to minors.” 

 

“That’s half true, but I’m not telling you which part,” Daniel laughs, and his laugh is so loud and so genuine that Jihoon finds a small smile tugging on his own lips. This was infinitely better than the go-see at the Ritz he was supposed to be at right about now. “I honestly hope you aren’t a minor though.”

 

“So a druggie and a sugar baby,” Jihoon sighs, conceding. “What a match.” 

 

Jihoon smiles to himself. Daniel did not need to be roped into his own complicated world and all its flashy luxuries - the boy looked like he was born for a simple life with simple pleasures, and to simply be happy. It somehow made Jihoon hope for the same. And maybe for this night, he can pretend that he’s just a random nobody who likes looking at stars and laughing at corny jokes.

 

“I don’t know where you’re going but,” Jihoon looked down and for a split second, Daniel thinks he sees beyond the bluster and the carefully weaved facade of the beautiful boy. “I don’t think I want to go home.” 

 

“Well,  _ Park Jihoon _ , are you going to pay me extra?” 

 

“For what?” Jihoon scoffs.

 

“For staying with you until the sunrise,” Daniel smiles, hopping over to the warm hood beside Jihoon as they both stared up at the sky.

 

“You wish,” Jihoon scoffed.

 

***

 

The next morning finds them at a gas station, Jihoon’s dress shirt now untucked and his hair a bird’s nest on top of his ridiculously handsome woke-up-like-this face, walking over to the payment kiosk to swipe a platinum card to get the cab to full-tank. They had slept uncomfortably inside the cab, but they did wake in time to see the sunrise.

 

Daniel leans back on the cab, trying to rub off the sleep from his eyes as he bit down on a convenience store waffle - when he sees the silhouette of two huge men in all black rushing him. 

 

“That’s him, that’s the kidnapper!” Daniel’s eyes blew wide open as he recognized “old, faithful Mr. Yoo” pointing a finger straight at him.

He thinks he’s still dreaming until his hands were pulled roughly and he drops the half-eaten dry waffle, and tastes metal as one of the men shoves his face onto the hood of the cab.

 

“Hff!!” he protests, trying to push back against the two larger men. He hears footsteps running closer and glances up to see Jihoon running toward Mr. Yoo and the tall man in a three-piece suit beside him.

 

“Let him go, Seongwoo,” Jihoon growls, and in Daniel’s obscured view in between the man’s fat hand shoved against his cheek, he sees him confronting the man in the suit.

 

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you,” the man in the pinstriped three-piece (probably Seongwoo) shouted, voice high with worry as he took Jihoon by the shoulders. “I’ll have this man arrested!” 

 

“No,” Jihoon licked his lips, the ruby red of the night before slowly peeling away with the chapped skin. He needed to think fast because heaven knows what Ong Seongwoo has planned for anyone who dared  _ abduct _ his most precious asset. “He’s-he’s - I was just spending time to get to know...my new bodyguard.” 

 

“Your  _ what _ ?” Daniel mumbled against the hood of his own car, his face crushed against it by the tall man’s security escort. 

 

“Your  _ what? _ ” the man in pinstripes exclaimed, putting both hands on his hips. 

 

“He’ll be with me 24/7, drive me around, and panic if anyone lays so much as a lingering glance on me,” Jihoon walked over to shoo the security escort with a flick of his wrist before leaning an elbow on the taller boy in his red flannel.

 

“Kang Daniel, my personal bodyguard.” 


	2. All We'll Ever Be

“I liked him better in the Armani,” Seongwoo commented as he sipped on the champagne. 

 

“This one’s a bit more  _ my _ style,” Jihoon tuts as he grabs at the older’s wrist and takes a sip from Seongwoo’s champagne flute before standing up to survey Daniel a bit closer.

 

Daniel wants to pinch himself a tenth time since this whole ordeal began. 

 

A few hours ago he was a cabbie in red flannel talking to a beautiful sugar baby on the hood of his (Jaehwan’s) taxi, and now he was in a dressing room the size of a wedding boutique being dressed by the “sugar baby” (who turns out to be a luxury model, not a baby) and his “sugar daddy” (who turns out to be a chaebol heir, not a daddy). 

 

(Daniel wonders if whatever relationship the two have between them is platonic.)

 

(He really hopes it is.)

 

“I personally liked the Stussy,” Daniel jokes through an awkward smile, almost wincing when Jihoon reaches up a hand to smooth the back of his collar. This had been the seventh suit he had tried on just this morning, and they came in varying shades of gray or black - he had no idea what the difference was, because each one looked the same. This suit, however, came in an obnoxious powder blue.

 

“I can’t have my bodyguard wearing a hoodie,” Jihoon snaps, gently flicking the back of his hand on Daniel’s chest. “So, Armani or Ferragamo?”

 

“Armani…?” Daniel tries tentatively (because he didn’t quite catch what that last one was), squinting at Jihoon. 

 

“See, I told yo-” Seongwoo pipes up from his seat across them.

 

“We’ll get the Ferragamo, then,” Jihoon finishes, his tone final. Seongwoo groans in the background and whispers a quick,  _ your fashion choices are still a disaster.  _ Jihoon quickly surveys Daniel one last time, eyes travelling up and down the taller man’s frame. 

 

“Did I even have a choice?” Daniel started, surprised how well he was taking this in stride - only to be taken aback when Jihoon inches closer again. 

 

“No, not really,” Jihoon leans in dangerously close, reaches up  a hand that barely grazes Daniel’s jaw, and releases the top two buttons on Daniel’s dress shirt to reveal a gaudy gold chain and sharp collarbones. The way he unbuttons them is painfully slow, deliberately teasing, and Daniel tries not to stare too much at the smaller boy’s sparkling eyes. 

 

Jihoon smirks when he feels Daniel nervously gulp under his touch.

 

“Jihoon,” Seongwoo groans from the back, finally standing up to take his place beside Daniel. “He looks more like an escort than a bodyguard.” 

 

“That’s what I’m going for - he blends right in with the crowd I have to deal with,” Jihoon grins mischievously as he whips around to face Seongwoo. “Your two bodyguards look like they’re protecting a small child, and you’re nearly six feet tall. What do you think that’ll do to my self-esteem?” 

 

“But this guy’s already  _ towering _ over your self-esteem,” Seongwoo argues, putting a casual arm around Daniel.

 

“Shut up,” Jihoon hisses, stepping back. “If I’m going to put my self-esteem and my life in someone else’s hands, he should at least look  _ this _ good.” 

 

Daniel turns around to face himself in the mirror - and true enough, being decked out in an all-expense-paid ensemble that cost six months worth of rent made a difference. He’s not sure if he likes it - he longed for the comfortable ripped jeans and the old shirts - but he sees the twinkle in Jihoon’s eyes reflected in the full-length mirror in front of him and he thinks he just might be able to bear this.

 

“And he should  _ taste _ even better,” Jihoon casually remarks as he puts his hands on his hips, stifling a laugh when Daniel chokes on his own spit. Seongwoo raises an eyebrow between the two when Jihoon finally erupts in laughter.

 

“I told you not to say things like that!” Daniel whines, coughing.

 

“Job hazard,” Jihoon shrugs and walks out of the dressing room to talk with a shop associate.

 

“Ignore him,” Seongwoo turns to Daniel. “The boy can flirt with anything that moves.” 

 

Seongwoo takes a few  steps around Daniel who’s still getting used to being in a suit before adding, “As for you - you’re hardly a bodyguard, but all Jihoon needs is a muscular babysitter anyway.”

 

“Is that my official job description?” Daniel raises an eyebrow. 

 

“Yes,” Seongwoo smiles. “Make sure he doesn’t get harassed during shoots, no photos from the paparazzi,  no creepy old men trying to get into his pants in the middle of the day.” 

 

Daniel knits his eyebrows at the last point. “So, no  _ bang bang _ walkie-talkie shit?” 

 

“I want a walkie-talkie,” Jihoon pipes up from outside the dressing room and Seongwoo holds up a finger to shut the boy up. 

 

“I don’t think Jihoon’s in any danger from kidnappers - he’s too high-visibility for that.” Seongwoo leans in close to whisper, “But he is a flight risk so most of your job is making sure he doesn’t run away.”

 

Daniel’s eyes widen in disbelief, because Jihoon looked too at home with all this extravagance that it was hard to imagine him running away.

 

“I heard that,” Jihoon approaches with a set of huge shopping bags, which he unceremoniously dumps in front of Daniel. “Let’s go,  _ bodyguard _ , I’m sure Mr. Ong Seongwoo is busy today.”

 

“Bring him back to my apartment before midnight,” Seongwoo calls out as Daniel follows after Jihoon. 

 

***

 

“Like hell you’re permanently employed,” Jaehwan’s voice comes through the phone as Daniel held it a few inches away from his ear. 

 

“You wouldn’t believe me, but I’m standing at a swanky hotel lobby, dressed in a  _ Fairy Garment _ or  _ Ferrigolio _ or something, and I’m a bodyguard,” Daniel replies, laughing at the absurd turn of events. 

 

“It’s  _ Ferragamo _ , Daniel,” Minhyun’s voice comes over a bit weaker - obviously his two flatmates had him on speakerphone.

 

“And my cab?” Jaehwan asks, glossing over Daniel’s answer because he wasn’t asking  _ what are you wearing _ right now. 

 

“A chauffeur who makes more than the three of us combined will be driving it in this afternoon,” Daniel explains. “And I may be home a bit less - my new employer’s got a fully-booked agenda and needs me guarding his every waking moment.” 

 

There’s a bit of shuffling on the other side of the call and Daniel figures that Minhyun might have shoved Jaehwan out of the way. 

 

“Daniel,” Minhyun’s tone is serious, his honey voice laced with the beginnings of a warning. “I thought you didn’t like being around high society crowds.”

 

Daniel bites his lip, looks down on his new brown leather shoes that still squeaked with each tap of his foot, before looking up to see Jihoon coming down the apartment lobby. 

 

“I don’t,” Daniel finally answers as he continues staring at the boy, who was now dressed in a loose burgundy top with a pair of wayfarers hanging off his perfectly chiseled nose. Jihoon looks perfectly composed, head held high, blending perfectly with the opulence surrounding him - but Daniel’s seen him vulnerable on the hood of a cab, looking up wide-eyed at the stars, and laughing over silly jokes. And he knows which one is the real Park Jihoon. 

 

“But I think someone needs me around, and for some reason I don’t want to leave him alone.”

 

There’s a pause on the line and Daniel wonders if he accidentally ended the call.

 

“Be careful, then,” Minhyun sighs finally, and Jaehwan manages to shout a casual remark to  _ make sure to pay the rent! _ before the two older boys cut the line and Daniel pockets his phone.

 

“Mr. Yoo is with Seongwoo today,” Jihoon approaches Daniel as he slung a black leather backpack on one arm. “So lucky you get to be bodyguard  _ and _ chauffeur today.”

 

“You don’t pay me enough,” Daniel complains, but pushes the glass door open for Jihoon. “I thought you didn’t trust my fake license?”

 

“Repairs for the Maserati cost a minimum of one million won,” Jihoon deadpans. 

 

“Just tell me where and I’ll drive,” Daniel quickly answers as he follows Jihoon onto the driveway where the valet waited with the Benz. 

 

***

 

Jihoon tilts his head this way and that, hears the consecutive clicks on the camera, and squeezes his eyes shut for a few seconds because he had been looking at studio lights for the past hour. 

 

At the corner of his eye, he spots his new bodyguard still ambling around the studio like a lost child. Jihoon tries to stop himself but he lets out the huge sigh he’s been keeping all day. 

  
  


“If he wants me to have a bodyguard to keep me in line, then I’ll find one on my own terms,” he had complained to Woojin earlier when they had a quick phonecall in his dressing room.

 

“So you got a...cab driver,” came Woojin’s dry response. 

 

“Shut the hell up, Woojin,” Jihoon hissed, staring at his own reflection.  _ He didn’t need a lecture from his best friend right now. _

 

“You do know that you put him in the line of fire?” Woojin’s tone turned serious. 

 

Jihoon looked at the ground then, because he was trying to avoid thinking about this - he’s  made a dozen grave mistakes in his lifetime and Kang Daniel was now one of them - but there was no turning back and there was really no gain in showing your weaknesses.

 

“So what?” Jihoon looked back up at his reflection on the dressing room mirror as he nonchalantly enunciated the terms laced with practiced indifference.

  
  


But now, as Jihoon stares at Daniel and his stupidly innocent warm expression and that awkward little hand wave he makes at seeing Jihoon looking at him, Jihoon knows that he needs to make sure he won’t get Daniel in more trouble than the boy was already in. 

 

_ Bodyguard _ . He doesn’t even know if the blonde boy could defend himself.

 

Now he has to pretend like he didn’t just pour bits of his heart out at the older boy - and he didn’t like being cold and uncaring towards the obviously bubbly boy. He liked talking about music genres and old videogames and making terrible puns with Daniel - but this was business, this was his  _ reality _ , and he had to let those go if this was going to be a professional relationship.

 

After all, you couldn’t last long in this industry if you wore your heart on your sleeve.

 

“And cut!” the director shouts, thanking Jihoon for another good take.  

 

***

 

“Any reason why you’re staying with Ong Seongwoo and not at your own place?” Daniel asks as he opens the door for his new boss. Daniel checks his watch and he was able to bring Jihoon to the apartment lobby with fifteen minutes to spare before midnight. He didn’t mean to be nosy - but he also can’t help the small pinpricks on his chest as he imagines Jihoon climbing into bed with Seongwoo.

 

“Is there any problem with that? I’ve been staying with Seongwoo for months,” Jihoon replies. “And it clearly isn’t any of your business who I sleep wit-”

 

“Just trying to be a good bodyguard,” Daniel huffs out, mentally giving himself a pat on the back for coming up with a quick excuse for once.

 

“The conditions for me getting my own place is getting a bodyguard,” Jihoon replies as he pauses to face Daniel. “So don’t you worry your pretty little mind, you’ll have me all to yourself by next week.” 

 

“I-I didn’t mean-th-” Daniel stutters, because Jihoon is flashing another one of those teasing grins and seductive glances and he just wished he didn’t do that. 

 

“Calm down, tiger,” Jihoon laughs. “Don’t get yourself too worked up. But I did mean that. Pack your stuff and get ready because your babysitting duties are about to crank up to 24/7.” 

 

“I move in with you next week?” Daniel gapes. 

 

“Aren’t you a lucky man,” Jihoon flashes one of those smirks as he gets into the elevator. 

 

“And Daniel?” 

 

“Yup?”

 

Jihoon bites his lip before pushing the words out of his mouth. “I’m your client, and you’re my bodyguard.” 

 

Daniel looks confused, because that much has been clear enough.

 

“Remember that, because that’s all we’ll ever be,” Jihoon continues and the elevator door shuts closed.

  
  


***

 

“How is your latest acquisition?” Seongwoo has his feet up on the living room coffee table, a book in his right hand and a glass of wine on the other when Jihoon enters the penthouse apartment. 

 

“He thinks I’m sleeping with you and got all adorably flustered,” Jihoon replies, gesturing carelessly with his hands and plopping down on the couch to take the wine glass from Seongwoo.

 

“Stop giving people that idea,” Seongwoo hisses but shifts in his seat to accommodate Jihoon.

 

“Please, Seongwoo,” Jihoon rolls his eyes, tipping the wine glass this way and that. “Half the agency already thinks you’re fucking around with me every night, and the other half thinks it’s the other way around.” 

 

Jihoon leans in closer, a mischievous smirk playing on his lips as he inches dangerously close to Seongwoo’s ear. “Subtlety isn’t exactly the game you’re playing when you’re this... _ openly affectionate. _ ”

 

“Openly affectionate, my foot,” Seongwoo scoffs, pushing Jihoon away as the younger laughs. “I just let you stay here because you keep running away when nobody’s looking.”

 

Seongwoo smothers his handsome features with his right hand as he stands up. “Everyone thinks you’re some sort of docile angel when in reality you’re the personification of a pain in the ass.” 

 

“Ugh, why can’t you just fall for me,” JIhoon pouts, sitting back on the sofa and raising his feet to the table. Jihoon smirks when the older boy rolls his eyes, because Ong Seongwoo, the heir of entire corporations in South Korea - cannot possibly associate himself with anything lower than a fellow conglomerate heir.  “Lavish me with expensive presents, buy me everything I want, take me to all your meetings-”

 

“You’re cute, Hoonie,” Ong replies, “But you’re a brat, and we work together so it’s sadly a  _ no _ .” 

 

“But your parents already  _ love  _ me,” Jihoon quips, but the malice in his voice was not lost on Ong Seongwoo.

 

“It’s only for a few months more, Jihoon.” Seongwoo’s tone softens, voice low as a silence hung over them. “After that you’re done with this whole thing.” 

 

Jihoon scoffs. “That’s what your stepfather said years ago until he figured out he needed me a lot more than he expected.” 

 

Jihoon holds his tongue at the unexpected bitterness that tumbled from his lips, disguised as light banter. He shifts targets and brings up yet another taboo topic instead. 

 

“So, how’s your incredibly rushed engagement?” 

 

Ong juts out a lip, unfazed by Jihoon’s deliberate prodding. “Still haven’t met my fiancee,” he answers. “Like everything else I have, my dearest mother takes care of it. I won’t be surprised if I only get to meet her on our wedding day.” 

 

“Well, someone’s terribly unromantic,” Jihoon tuts, standing up to unbutton his dress shirt. 

 

“We can’t all have handsome bodyguards to flirt with,” Seongwoo teases.

 

“He’s not that handsome,” Jihoon shoots back, but even he isn’t convinced. Before his ears could turn red and Seongwoo calls him out on it, he quickly segues, “Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to spend my last few nights sleeping in your living room actually getting some much-deserved shuteye. _ ”  _

 

“Spoken like every ungrateful mooch in history,” Seongwoo picks up the glasses and heads into the kitchen. Because truth be told, he’s going to miss having the little brat sleeping on his couch. “You’re just excited to start rooming with tall, blonde, and handsome Kang Daniel.”

 

“He’s a bodyguard,” Jihoon rolls his eyes. “It’s a professional relationship.”

  
  


***

  
  


And so the next few days passed more or less the same - Daniel wakes up early to be at the lobby wearing a new suit everyday, Jihoon gets in with barely a single greeting, stuffs his ears with his earphones, and Daniel drives him to the next engagement. 

 

(He thinks he’s become more of a driver  than a bodyguard at this point.)

 

Rinse and repeat.

 

After yet another photoshoot with yet another magazine, Daniel couldn’t help the loud sigh he lets out as Jihoon plugged in his earphones again.

 

Driving Jihoon around was effortless enough - but it grated at Daniel how aloof the younger behaved in contrast with their first drive the night he crashed into the Maserati. Recently, he hadn’t been on the receiving end of Jihoon’s flirty advances either.

 

He turns around in his seat to meet Jihoon’s eyes and the younger looks at him with a confused expression before taking out one earbud. “What?” 

 

“Do I need to crash the Benz into a cab to get you to talk to me again?” Daniel ventures, playfully grinning.

 

“Aren’t you cocky,” Jihoon raises an eyebrow and proceeds to click his earphone back into place. He was trying to keep interactions with Daniel to a minimum - if he can keep this a purely business transaction, there wouldn’t be complications later on. 

 

Daniel continues leaning back from his position on the driver’s seat, body twisted uncomfortably to continue talking to Jihoon. 

 

Daniel wonders what the huge wall was up there for, but he’s stuck with Jihoon for the good part of an entire day almost every day. And they were soon going to be roommates. In a hotel penthouse. 

 

“Do you want to go drinking?” Daniel muses, tapping his fingers on the gear shift while waiting for an answer. 

 

“If I wanted to go drinking, I’d go with my friends,” Jihoon lies between his teeth.  _ What friends _ , his mind started asking; and he shoos it away.

 

“Well it’s about time we become friends then,” Daniel grins, moving the shift flawlessly from first to second to third gear as they started speeding up the street. 

 

Jihoon blinked up as he tears off the earphones. “Are you fucking kidding me?” 

 

“Loosen up, Valentino,” Daniel replies cheekily. “I don’t buy your  _ that’s all we’ll ever be  _ bullshit from a few nights ago.” 

 

Jihoon is starting to think maybe he should’ve just picked a bodyguard from Seongwoo’s referral list after all, but he doesn’t protest any further.

 

Because quite a big part of him actually wants to go out drinking with Kang Daniel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ack I can't wait to get to the more exciting parts of this story - so far there's a lot of open questions and I'm not sure if it's as clear as I want it to be?  
> Will Jihoon hold on to his "don't be friends with my bodyguard" agenda? Especially when they're about to be roommates? WILL ONGHWANG FINALLY MEET (answer:yes)?
> 
> Please do leave a comment and let me know how you're finding this fic so far!  
> It's my first time writing something like this (like wow there's a hidden plot under the ships) - so let me know what you think :3 
> 
> See you next update!


	3. The Songs We Sing

“Jihoon, sweetie,” Ong Seongwoo’s voice sounds like thinly-sugarcoated venom over the call. “Where the hell are you?” 

 

“I’m...” Jihoon looks up at Daniel, who has the audacity to be whistling like he wasn’t kidnapping his client. He can absolutely tell the truth right now and get Daniel’s cabbie ass fired; or he can lie through his teeth and have a fun night out for once. 

 

He opts for the better option. “I’m feeling a bit sick, Seongwoo - Daniel’s driving me to the hospital.” 

 

Daniel grins from the driver’s seat. Jihoon may act tough and unwilling to go, but the fact that he was making up horrible excuses confirmed that the younger wouldn’t say no to him. 

 

“Hoonie,” Seongwoo replies, voice sounding exasperated over the phone. “Hoonie, darling,  _ you little lying asshole _ , I just finished dinner with the CEO of Runway Paris. The very one you’re supposed to be entertaining right now?”

 

“Yes,” Jihoon answers, smacking the side of Daniel’s head as he sees the older boy grinning through the rearview mirror. “And I can’t see her right now because I honestly don’t look my prettiest at the moment.”

 

“Jihoon,  _ she wants you _ , not me,” Seongwoo’s voice turned deadly serious. “If we don’t lock in this client to source models from our agency, she is going to accept the contract from our  _ archnemesis _ KGC, and you’ll have to work for me a lot longer than we planned.” 

 

Silence.

 

“Don’t you want this whole thing to be over with?” Seongwoo whispers over the phone, and Jihoon can’t help the sinking feeling in his stomach. 

 

Land the most expensive client they can get, rake in all the money for his agency, and then he’ll finally be free of his contract with Chairman Ong, Seongwoo’s stepfather. 

 

But he was  _ this close _ to drowning,  _ this close  _ to forgetting why he was in this industry in the first place, and he needed to remember that he wasn’t an unfeeling puppet who has to look beautiful when the lights are on, or get CEO’s in bed just to land a modeling gig - he’s just a boy with hopes and dreams and fears just like everyone else. 

 

He remembers the first night he talked with Kang Daniel - how the boy didn’t care about his designer brand clothes or his upscale aura - the big blonde boy simply asked him if he liked stars. And  _ what made him laugh.  _

 

Jihoon closes his eyes. Right now, he needed to be asked those kinds of questions again. Just to feel normal. Just to feel alive. 

 

“I do want it over with,” Jihoon forces out his reply. “Nobody wants this to end more than me. Tell her I’m sorry I can’t come out today, but I-” Jihoon gulps. “I’ll take care of it.” 

 

“Make sure you do,” Seongwoo sighs.

 

“KGC doesn’t even stand a chance.” Jihoon ends the call and has to smother his face with his right hand. He punches in a text message and an address to an unknown number he had saved from before.

  
  


***

 

“I can fire you, you know,” Jihoon hisses under his breath as Daniel opens the door. He had to change into the spare hoodie Daniel kept in the car to look inconspicuous - and he may or may not like the warm, comforting smell coming off of the jacket. 

 

Jihoon looks around to see neon sights everywhere, and he’s half-worried the Benz might get stolen. “Where the hell are we anyway?”

 

“My side of town,” Daniel responds, pushing the door back with his leg and clicking the car lock with a beep. 

 

Jihoon looks up at the establishment Daniel was walking towards, and it’s by no means anything like the uptown bars he’s been escorted into these past few years. He trudges after the taller man with a constricting feeling of familiarity in his chest. 

 

“You do know that places like this raise the risk of your job by, I don’t know,” Jihoon mumbles as he pulls his hood closer against his face and keeps his hands in front of his face like a mask. “A thousand percent?” 

 

“I like living dangerously,” Daniel answers before snickering. “I’ve been here a million times, and the biggest hazard in this area is accidentally ordering a beer that tastes like piss.” 

 

“You’re a terrible bodyguard,” JIhoon whines, but feels a small smile tug at the corner of his lips. 

 

“Your fault for not checking my resume,” Daniel pulls open the door and lets Jihoon in - the room is thick with smoke that smelled a lot like strawberries and cream from some poor sap who sat vaping at the corner, the lights were either dim or broken, and the decor was reminiscent of what could have been a high-end establishment decades ago. It’s not a full house - but there may be people who would recognize Jihoon from a billboard or a magazine. There’s a low terrace that separated the casual goers from the patrons that sat closer to a wide wooden stage that shone harsh floodlights on the empty stage.

 

“None of the watered down shit, hyung,” Daniel casually calls to a passing waiter. 

 

“You’re a regular here?” Jihoon cocks an eyebrow as he settles back against the plush seats. At least Daniel had the presence of mind to select an almost hidden enclave in the bar; and this seat didn’t look like it had a history of sins committed on top of it. 

 

“I live here, right upstairs,” Daniel replies simply. “Well,  _ lived _ , because I have to watch your back 24/7 starting tonight.” 

 

“You’re welcome,” Jihoon fusses with the bare tableware before leaning forward on his elbows. “I saved you from this place.”

 

Jihoon rests his face in his hands as the waiter unceremoniously dumps two full glasses of a dark-colored liquid before ruffling Daniel’s hair as he left.

 

“It’s not half bad,” Daniel answers Jihoon as he throws one arm over the back of his chair and leans back to motion at the stage, where two men were preparing a set. “See, right on cue - the entertainment here is second to none.” 

  
  


***

 

“Mic test, mic test,” the microphone sounds boomed loud against the bar’s passable sound system.

 

“I’d like to dedicate this song to Kang Daniel,” the brown-haired boy on stage squints in Jihoon’s general direction in an attempt to see past the bright lights that were shining on the stage. “Because he seems to have adopted yet another cute little thing, and we honestly don’t have enough money to pay for rent anymore.” 

 

“Shut up, Jaehwan,” Daniel calls out good-naturedly. “He adopted me!” 

 

“Did he just call me a  _ cute little thing _ ?” Jihoon feigns offense as he hears the man called Jaehwan begin to pluck some riffs on the acoustic guitar. He leans in closer to Daniel to squint at him in the darkness, only to get a tiny laugh over the sound echoing across the establishment.

 

“I used to adopt kittens and hide them in our flat,” Daniel bulldozes over the question with useless facts. “The noisy one is Jaehwan, and that’s Minhyun-hyung, they’re my flatmates.” 

 

Jihoon nods curtly, and files that information in his brain’s recycle bin because he had no plans of getting to know his bodyguard’s friends. 

 

“They’re upset that they will have one less person to split the rent with starting tonight, so I kinda owe them.” 

 

“Are you trying to make me feel bad for letting you live in a five-star hotel’s penthouse?” Jihoon fakes a gasp as he sips on the drink that had arrived at their table. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but the drink was actually decent and didn’t taste like it was laced with some date-drug.

 

“Does spiriting me away from my friends make you feel bad?” 

 

“Not at all,” Jihoon replies, smirking.

 

“Then I am trying to help you grow a conscience,” Daniel grins. 

 

***

 

Seongwoo frowns as he adjusts the mask over his face. He had asked Mr. Yoo to take him to where the Benz was at (bless those GPS trackers faithful old Mr. Yoo had installed on all his vehicles) - and he’s unhappy to see that Jihoon was back at run-down clubs again. 

 

_ Fantasio’s top luxury model sighted in such a disgraceful venue? On the same night he’s supposed to be meeting a high-profile client? _ Seongwoo figures that he can dress Jihoon in the most expensive fashion but he will always gravitate towards things he grew up with. 

 

Nevertheless, Seongwoo sits down, orders a drink that tastes like piss, and listens to a guitarist playing instrumental on the stage. Jihoon had asked him repeatedly to start trusting him, and this was not how trust worked - but Seongwoo’s still disappointed that the first day Jihoon’s out of his apartment, he starts doing  _ exactly what he wasn’t supposed to be doing _ .

 

“Shut up, Jaehwan,” he hears that husky voice call from a secluded corner of this low-end establishment, and he wonders in horror what kind of vagrant he just hired to take care of his precious little Jihoonie. Especially when he sees Jihoon lean close - and suddenly he’s thinking maybe Jihoon actually  _ liked _ Kang Daniel. 

 

_ An entire career surrounded by beautiful, rich, prestigious people and Jihoon chooses a cabbie with a bunny smile _ , Seongwoo laments, finishing his piss-beer.

 

He hates this idea and makes a mental note to fire Kang Daniel  _ because what kind of bodyguard brings their ward to a place like this _ \- until he hears the strum of a familiar riff coming from the stage. 

 

He looks up to be assaulted by a man with jet-black hair and porcelain-clear skin crooning into the microphone, dressed simply in a white button-up that loosely clung onto those wide shoulders. He sat a few feet from the brown-haired guitarist, but commanded the stage like he was the only one on it.

 

If angels tread the earth, he had just found one.

 

Seongwoo didn’t expect to find anything as beautiful in such a place as this - because the man’s voice carries over the smoke and the desperation in the air like a silver lining - a honeyed melody that pulled at Seongwoo’s heartstrings. The singer is bathed in weak yellow stage lights, and the lighting would usually be harsh on anyone else - but this man is not  _ anyone else _ ; he sits on the overused wooden stool looking like all of Seongwoo’s favorite melodies.

 

Seongwoo is captivated as the man gently rolls through the high notes with barely a change in expression, eyes closed almost throughout the entire performance. It’s a song about trying to get over a lover but failing, and the way he sang  _ never ever _ and the broken way he repeats  _ i love you, love you, love you  _ left Seongwoo stunned. 

 

The singer finishes and finally lifts his head, sharp eyes opening and for a split-second, he’s staring straight at Ong Seongwoo like he was the only other man in this bar and the song was just for him.

 

Seongwoo wants to cry. He had spent his whole life laughing at people who “fell in love at first sight”, because that wasn’t logical, it wasn’t  _ practical _ , and  _ who the hell likes someone the first time you see them? _

 

Seongwoo should know, because he’s spent his growing years learning to manage Fantasio - the modeling agency under the Ong Companies - and he’s never really  _ liked _ anyone no matter how beautiful or how handsome they looked. 

 

And now he finds himself wanting someone based on a look, based on a voice, based on a fucking  _ song _ . And he knows he’s helplessly fallen because he would do just about anything to get the nameless singer to look at him just one more time.

 

“Amazing as always, Minhyun-hyung!” Kang Daniel’s annoyingly happy voice ruins the moment as he throws a rolled napkin onto the stage to simulate a bouquet of flowers, which the singer picks up with an exaggerated flourish. 

 

Seongwoo wants to throw a shoe at Kang Daniel, because heavens know he’d order a hundred bouquets and serve them at the singer’s feet instead of Daniel’s dirty piece of cloth.

 

“Minhyun,” Seongwoo whispers to himself, eyes still transfixed at how those beautiful eyes push up into crescents and a low laugh rumbles into the mic. 

 

***

 

Jihoon points up to the stage when Daniel sits back down beside him.  

 

“Can I get him as bodyguard instead?” Jihoon glances between Daniel and Hwang Minhyun. He can already feel warmth on his cheeks, because whatever Daniel ordered was definitely beyond his normal alcohol tolerance. 

 

Daniel turns to Jihoon, and the boy was obviously charmed by the singer onstage. He feels his face twisting into a pout  _ because is Park Jihoon blushing?  _ and replies, “No.” 

 

“Why not?” Jihoon teases, eyes still trained on how Hwang Minhyun is announcing the next song he will be singing with Kim Jaehwan. 

 

“Because,” Daniel replies, trying to come up with an excuse.  _ Because I said so? Because how can you look at Minhyun-hyung when I’m right here? Because - _

 

Jihoon looks back expectantly at Daniel, because the boy looked like he was thinking a bit too hard. “Because Minhyun-hyung is too beautiful and will probably be kidnapped before you.” 

 

Jihoon raises an eyebrow. “Did you just insinuate that he looks more like a model than me?” 

 

“You’re a little brat, you can protect yourself,” Daniel answers. “Hell, your shoulders are almost as broad as mine and your thighs would probably beat me in contest no problem.”

 

Daniel is surprised when Jihoon suddenly chuckles.

 

“Have you been checking me out, Kang Daniel?” Jihoon grins, leaning closer as Minhyun and Jaehwan’s harmony bounced across the bar. 

 

“What if I have been?” Daniel looks at him before realizing what he just said. He feels his ears turning red and Jihoon himself has to laugh like that didn’t surprise him too. “It’s final, Minhyun-hyung can’t be your bodyguard. I’m your bodyguard.” 

 

“Bodyguards  _ guard _ my body,” Jihoon laughs, taking a sip from the second glass on the table. “Not try to imagine what it looks like under these clothes.” 

 

“I wasn’t imagining anything!” Daniel protests, but breaks into a smile when he sees Jihoon’s uninhibited smile once again.    
  
“You really have to get used to me,” Jihoon laughs, finishing his second glass of alcohol. “It’s more fun when you can flirt back.”

 

“I don’t think I can do that,” Daniel replies as he finishes his second glass as well. He signals at the waiter to bring another one. “One more? All drinks on me tonight.”

 

“I pay your salary though,” Jihoon says, “Which kinds of defeats the purpose of you buying me anything.”

 

“Well, tonight, just pretend we’re friends,” Daniel passes the glass to Jihoon as it arrives. “And this friend wants to treat you to drinks.”

 

“No need to pretend,” Jihoon clinks his glass against Daniel’s. 

 

***

 

On their fifth glass each and on the tenth song of the evening, Daniel’s finally starting to feel a bit buzzed so he figures it’s time to stop drinking if he wants to make it to his new living quarters (a hotel penthouse, at that) alive. Jihoon, on the other hand, was already leaning against him and babbling unintelligibly. 

 

He honestly did not expect Jihoon’s tolerance to be  _ this low _ , or the boy to feel this warm and small against him. He tries to recall an article he read about how kittens and puppies are cute so they unconsciously raise your protective instincts, before he laughs to himself for comparing a full-grown professional to a baby animal. 

 

Nonetheless, he coos when Jihoon tries to tell a story with high-pitched sounds to emphasize some parts. Normally Jihoon tried to exude this sexy aura, but right now he just looked childlike and vulnerable - just as he had a few nights ago. 

 

He’s still stupidly smiling at Jihoon when the boy throws an unexpectedly strong fist against his shoulder.

 

“Ow!” Daniel yelps as he raises an arm to defend himself. He had had his fair share of violent drunks.  _ Are bodyguards supposed to practice self-defense against their clients? _

 

“I said,” Jihoon slurred, pushing against Daniel to steady himself. “I need to go pee, where’s the toilet?”

 

“Down the hallway, to the left,” Daniel points. Jihoon takes a few seconds to understand what he was saying, but the boy rose anyway and nearly fell back down.

  
“Do I need to accompany you, _ sir _ ?” Daniel grinned, glad to finally have the upper-hand between them for once.

 

“Shut up, sit down, and order me another,” Jihoon slurred, “If you want to be a friend, you will laugh at me and rub this in my face in the morning; not act all worried like a mother duck. That’s already Seongwoo’s job.”

 

Daniel keeps grinning because drunk Park Jihoon did not have a filter, looked red as a tomato, could not walk a straight line to save his life, and was  _ hella cute.  _ Daniel sits back to find Jaehwan giving him a thumbs up from the stage, which he waves off as he rolls his eyes.

 

He spots a man dressed all in black start to stand up, face direction trained towards where Jihoon had just been, and the man stands to follow into the hallway. Daniel’s instincts kicked in then and he’s suddenly sober - because he was hired to be a bodyguard, not a friend. 

 

He hurriedly stands up and follows Jihoon.

 

***

 

Jihoon squints at his reflection in the mirror as he washed his hands. It takes him several attempts before he got the defective faucet open. He couldn’t get a clear image of his own face, because his world was spinning right now - and he had the strong urge to simply lock himself in the bathroom stall and fall asleep there. 

 

Jihoon wonders where it all went wrong, for the nth time in the last couple of years. He misses bars like these, he misses the feeling of having no consequences when he simply wants to have fun, he misses the feeling of doing what he wants to do without anyone telling him otherwise.

 

There must have been a time where he dreamed of being rich, driving around in luxury cars and strutting around town in expensive clothes and even more expensive jewelry. There must have been a time when he dreamed of being famous and adored. 

 

Right now he can’t recall when that was.

 

What he does recall are the evenings he spent with Woojin and their friends frequenting bars exactly like this one - ordering cheap, bitter alcohol and being chased out for being underage. He misses being dressed up in old, worn hoodies like the one he was wearing right now. 

 

_ Kang Daniel.  _

 

Jihoon smiles despite himself. Kang Daniel was a disaster of a bodyguard, but he feels like a lifeline. He feels like a reminder that Jihoon is still Park Jihoon underneath the well-maintained facade of a luxury model with expensive tastes, despite everything he has done that he regrets. 

 

He looks back up to his reflection in the mirror and sees tears falling down his cheeks. 

 

***

 

Jihoon breathes in, calms himself down, and prepares to step back out. He had definitely taken a lot more alcohol than he can manage - he’s just glad that huge puppy Kang Daniel was as innocent as an elementary-school girl and could carry his weight into his new room. 

 

Jihoon musses his hair again and straightens out the hoodie before pushing the bathroom door open, the sound of a harmonizing duet growing louder -

 

Jihoon feels a warm hand across his waist as he steps outside and suddenly he’s pulled flush against Kang Daniel’s broad chest as the taller boy pivots a step and pushes him against the wall, hiding the both of them into a corner.

 

Jihoon shoots him a scandalized expression and opens his mouth to cuss the living daylights out of his new bodyguard because  _ his body doesn’t feel quite guarded right now _ , it felt like it was burning against Daniel's touch, and it felt too close because he could feel their heartbeats drumming in sync. 

 

But Daniel moves quick and places one hand over Jihoon’s mouth, muffling the beginnings of his protests as he raises a finger to his lips to signal for silence. 

 

And damn if Daniel didn’t look  _ fine  _ partly illuminated by the dim lights from the hallway. 

 

Jihoon’s bewildered eyes turn from confusion into understanding when he hears footsteps. 

 

_ He was being...followed? _

 

Daniel takes a deep breath and wishes that he was an  _ armed _ guard, and not an untrained bodyguard out for display - because it was in moments like this where he wants his fingers able to feel the weight of a trigger.

 

He looks down one last time and wonders what spell it was that Park Jihoon cast over him because he’s willing to protect this boy no matter what.

 

Daniel steps out into the hallway from the corner, and Jihoon struggles to make sense of what he’s watching when the bodyguard makes a calculated swipe of his leg to trip the approaching man before taking him by the collar and slamming him up against the wall - arm against his neck and the other hand poised to slam into the man’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUN Daniel's a capable bodyguard after all
> 
> And yes everyone's starting to have feelings!!! except Minhyun because he chose Jaehwan in XCON lol 
> 
> Thank you all for the kudos and comments so far; I'm glad there are readers enjoying this somehow~   
> Please do let me know what you think of this one because we're about to get to the fluff before the angst drop :D 
> 
> Next chapter in a couple of days!


	4. First Dates, First Nights

"It's me, it's ME!" a high-pitched squeal came from the man Daniel was pinning against the wall, and the man pulls off his mask to reveal a very shocked, pale-white Ong Seongwoo.

 

Daniel mutters a weak "huh," before backing off abruptly (causing Seongwoo to fall to the ground coughing), dropping into a 90-degree bow as he starts to apologize profusely.

 

"I didn't think you'd actually be a  _ good _ bodyguard," Seongwoo comments as he stands up and brushes his black sweater, trying to regain some dignity.

 

"Me neither, sir," Daniel replies instantly, before biting a knuckle because  _ that's not what you're supposed to tell your employer _ .

 

"You failed on the babysitting mandate, though," Seongwoo raises an eyebrow. While the blonde boy had the reflexes of a feral cat, he had the brain of a ball of yarn.

 

"Seongwoo- _ hyung _ ," Jihoon's voice was pitched a couple notches higher and both men turned to face the reason they were standing in the hallway in the first place. Seongwoo sighs. He only gets called  _ hyung _ when it was really, really serious. Jihoon squints at Seongwoo, half-focusing despite his inebriation and a hundred percent annoyed. "Were you following me?"

 

"No," Seongwoo lies, and it's such a bad delivery that even Daniel didn't believe him. Even drunk Jihoon wasn't convinced.

 

Seongwoo falters a bit before turning back to Daniel in an accusatory tone, "Did you seriously take him here to get him drunk and then take advantage?"

 

"What?" Daniel's eyes widened. "No, no, we were just hanging out for a bit and I didn't know he got drunk this fas-"

 

"What do you care if he takes advantage of me," Jihoon slurs at the side, wobbling over to wrap an arm around Daniel's waist.  _ Just for balance _ , he thinks to himself. Daniel stiffens at the contact and at the implication in his words. “It’s not taking advantage when I  _ want _ him to.”

 

"You're already drunk and you're  _ still _ a flirty brat?" Seongwoo mutters, putting his hands into his pockets. "Fine, I followed you to make sure you got to your new place safely, and I don't appreciate you hanging around places like these. What if the media finds you here?"

 

Daniel feels Jihoon's grasp tighten on his waist, the boy stepping in closer against him. Seongwoo does have a point, Daniel notes to himself, and he internally hits his head for not thinking this through. He had only wanted to see Jihoon smiling again.

 

He looks down and sees Jihoon biting hard at his lower lip, probably trying to think of a comeback to that, but he finds he's looking down at eyes that were glossing over and threatening to spill over. Even in the darkness, he knows Jihoon had cried. Jihoon's breath shuddered against him, and Daniel wants to panic and repeat,  _ don't cry, please don't cry  _ over and over-

 

"Daniel?" a soft voice calls out as it enters the hallway.

 

Seongwoo whips his head around and feels his legs freeze on the spot.

 

"Minhyun-hyung," the blonde bodyguard replies.

 

"Anything wrong?" Minhyun looks at the scene in front of him - a small boy on the verge of tears clinging tight against Daniel, and a man dressed all in black fuming beside them. He's all too familiar with bar confrontations. "Is this man giving you a hard time?"

 

"No, not at all," Daniel unconsciously drapes an arm around Jihoon and buries the boy's face against his shoulder - he's pretty sure Jihoon doesn't want strangers seeing him cry. "My client here just got a bit drunk and we're trying to get him home."

 

"And this is?" Minhyun tips his head over to Seongwoo, who was oddly silent.

 

"Ah, this is my employer, Ong Seo-"

 

Suddenly, Seongwoo awkwardly darts forward and takes Minhyun's hand in both of his, before stuttering out in one breath, "Ong Seongwoo, CEO at Fantasio entertainment agency, heir to Ong Companies. I like red wine and I'm no good at sports, but I own a yacht and would you like to go out with me sometime?"

 

Minhyun tries to pull back his hand but the grip on them was iron. He settles for looking at Daniel with a bewildered expression.

 

"Is he drunk too?"

 

 

***

 

 

Seongwoo finds himself sitting across Hwang Minhyun as the man sips on a cup of tea. They were at a 24-hour café in the same neighborhood, and he makes a mental note to give Kang Daniel a raise because the big idiot had his uses after all - like convincing a very unwilling singer to just have some coffee with his employer.

 

He had let Daniel drive Jihoon off after the "date" between him and the gorgeous singer was guaranteed.  _ Because whoever is friends with an angel can be trusted with Jihoonie after all. _

 

"Can you," Minhyun starts, and Seongwoo leans closer across the table, eagerly resting his face on both his palms. "...stop staring at me for one second? It's getting a bit weird," Minhyun continues, leaning back on his chair.

 

"Only if you stop being beautiful for one second," Seongwoo replies, hoping it sounds as cheeky as when Jihoon says it - but it only earns him a scrunched face from the singer across him. Curse Jihoon and his cute face that gets away with anything.

 

"Are rich people this bad at flirting?" Minhyun puts down the cup of tea onto the coaster and crosses his legs.

 

"Only me," Seongwoo answers, suddenly self-conscious.  _ How did Jihoon get away with things like these _ ?

 

Minhyun coughs because the conversation was going nowhere. "I heard Daniel's a bodyguard to your…protégé?"

 

"Top model at my agency," Seongwoo replied. "Luxury brands want him, magazines fight for an editorial featuring him, international agencies want to pirate him, CEO's would pay millions to have dinner with him, and so on."

 

"And you stalked your own model because?" Minhyun raises an eyebrow. Daniel owes him bigtime for setting him up with a creep.  _ A rich creep _ , Daniel had whispered in his ear earlier.

 

He decides that rich creeps and poor creeps still belonged to the same species of  _ creep _ , but he maintains a smile plastered on his face. He's getting free overpriced tea and pastries out of this anyway.

 

"He's always trying to meet up with his lowlife friends - bunch of young drug-dealing delinquents," Seongwoo answers earnestly, eyes glazing over for a while. "I know they're his friends but…stick around with those kinds of people and you end up like them as well."

 

Seongwoo looks down at his own untouched espresso. "And Jihoon deserves more than that. He's got a promising modeling career ahead of him, beautiful as a cherub and sharp as a whip. I don't know why he keeps running back."

 

Minhyun nods, thankful that for once, Seongwoo wasn’t looking adoringly at him. And for some reason, the way he talks about Jihoon reminded Minhyun of how much he himself cared about Daniel - he'd turn the world over if it meant that Daniel would never have his heart broken again.

 

"So," Minhyun butts in when Seongwoo's face turned dark at the reminiscing. "You’re in love with your own your top model?"

 

"Me?" Seongwoo's voiced raised into a high-pitched whine and waved a hand exaggeratedly at Minhyun. "Hell no, I love _ you _ ."

 

Minhyun chokes on his spit because creep Seongwoo is back. "You're going to have to flirt better than a fourth grader, Ong Seongwoo."

 

***

Daniel has Jihoon's arm around him as he dragged the both of them out of the elevator - and he wonders what the boy  _ ate _ to weigh this much. Daniel grunts with effort as he attempts to shift Jihoon's dead weight while fumbling in his pockets for the card key - he had found them in Jihoon's pockets a few moments earlier.

 

Jihoon had thought that Daniel was trying to take off his pants and started shrieking that  _ he could do it himself _ , and Daniel watched in horror as Jihoon attempted to slip out of his pants inside the elevator. He had to take both the boys wrists and pin him against the wall to stop him.

 

Needless to say, he hopes the CCTV people weren’t watching that.

 

Daniel sighs in relief when the lock lit green and clicked open, and Daniel nearly drops Jihoon completely when he sees the room.

 

The penthouse at The Grand Royale was fitted for royalty - there's a living room as big as his shared flat with Minhyun and Jaehwan, with a glass panel opening up to a lapping pool and a small pocket garden. He spots a kitchen outfitted with brand-new appliances and succulents painstakingly staged before he comes to the dilemma of the two closed doors.

 

Daniel carefully lowers Jihoon onto one of the velvet couches before crossing the carpeted expanse of the living room to check out one door - he expects it to be a bedroom; but it turns out to be a giant walk-in cupboard.

 

Daniel gulps. This left only one mo re room in the unit - and true enough, door number two opens to an equally opulent master's bedroom with a king-sized bed, a walk-in closet, and an enormous bathroom in black marble.

 

He runs his hands on the countertops as he walks over to the window and glimpses an amazing view of the cityscape lit up for the late evening. 

 

Daniel should be impressed, should have his mouth hanging open at the chance to live in such a place as this.

 

Instead, Daniel tries to fight off the feeling in his chest, because this excessive luxury, this room, this view -  everything reminds him of everything he's wanted to run away from. A life he didn't want to live, a father he didn't want to acknowledge, a future he'd never accept.

 

"Danieeeellll," a weak voice calls to him from the living room, and he's snapped out of his thoughts. He finds that his nails had dug into the palms of his hands when he unclenches his fist - and he rushes out of the room.

 

"Jihoon? What's wrong?" he worriedly fusses over the boy, who had kicked off his loafers and was curled up into a small ball on the couch.

 

“Pajamas,” the boy pouts as he attempts to pull off the hoodie, eyes half-closed and edging on sleep. He succeeds in nearly getting it off but it’s stuck around his face. 

 

Daniel laughs out loud, because Jihoon wasn’t disarming for once. He was  _ adorable. _

 

Daniel walks over and helps the boy pull off the hoodie before he could throw a tantrum, and he finds himself too close to Jihoon’s wide-eyed stare and the undiscovered galaxies within them. 

 

He catches himself staring a bit too long, registering the perfect bridge of his nose, the rosy tint on his flushed cheeks, the glossed swell of his half-open lips. The perfection of everything brought together and panting softly as it tried to focus on his own face.

 

“I-I’ll try to find you some pajamas,” Daniel turns away and prepares to search through the master bedroom, where Seongwoo said all Jihoon’s belongings were already prepared.

 

But Jihoon has other plans, and he wraps both hands around Daniel’s neck as the older boy briskly walked off, dragging the both of them down onto the plush carpet. 

 

The younger boy giggles, nuzzling against Daniel’s neck as he attempts to wrap a leg around Daniel’s waist as well.

 

“I can see why Seongwoo-ssi didn’t want me getting you drunk,” Daniel pants as he tries to untangle himself from the giggling boy. “You’re touchier than Jaehwan.” 

 

“He’s never seen me drunk,” Jihoon manages to slur out inbetween giggles and grasping tighter around Daniel’s neck. “I haven’t gotten drunk eveeeerrr.”

 

Daniel is scandalized. Never gotten drunk?  _ Ever? _

 

“Well, don’t ever get drunk without me guarding you,” Daniel berates. 

 

“Why?” Jihoon’s voice is pitched high, head cocking to the side as his grip around Daniel loosens a bit and Daniel finally manages to untangle himself and sit up. Jihoon continued lying on the floor in a simple black shirt.

 

“Because,” Daniel starts, and realizes that Jihoon probably won’t remember any of this in the morning. “Because I don’t want you dragging men down onto the floor unless it’s me.”

 

“Okay,” drunk Jihoon was easy enough to pacify, and he was on the verge of falling asleep again. Daniel tries to get up and find some pajamas so he can properly tuck Jihoon in, but the boy’s hands tugged on his shirt when he tried to get up.

 

"I want to go home," Jihoon whines, forcing his bleary eyes to open.

 

"You're already home," Daniel smiles as he brushes off some strands that were sticking onto Jihoon's forehead.  "You weren't kidding, this place looks tons better than my entire flat times ten."

 

Jihoon's hand slowly crawls up, taking the hand that Daniel was using to fluff through the younger's hair. For a second, Daniel prepares himself to get the  _ don't ever touch my hair  _ hate speech, but Jihoon simply lets out a small whine as he intertwines his fingers with Daniel's own.

 

"Uh, Ji-Jihoon, f-friends take care of you when you're drunk, but friends don’t hold ha-" Daniel stammers, wondering if drunk Jihoon was equally as flirty as normal Jihoon.

 

"I want to go  _ home _ ," Jihoon repeats, voice suddenly weak and broken as it ends in a repressed sob. He holds tightly onto Daniel's hand and pulls it to his face, hugging it under the crook of his neck.

 

Daniel lies back down on the carpeted floor as he adjusts to the awkward position Jihoon has him in, and for a while he thinks that the boy wants to go back to Ong Seongwoo's place.

 

“I can drive you back to his place when he finishes his da-” 

 

"I miss my mom, I miss my dad,  _ I miss my home _ ," Jihoon blurts out as he slowly slips into slumber and it suddenly clicks for Daniel. Why Jihoon had simply wanted him to drive off to anywhere the first time they met. How Seongwoo had warned him that Jihoon kept running away.

 

Jihoon wasn't running away.

 

_ Jihoon wanted to run back home. _

 

Daniel holds Jihoon's fingers tighter in his own.

 

If he could guard Jihoon enough so the boy never knows the heartbreak that he himself had gone through - he'd do so without hesitation.

 

Daniel pulls him closer, wrapping his arms around the boy as they both lay down on the plush carpet.

 

"I can be your home for now," Daniel whispers as the boy cuddled into him. "Just for tonight, just until it doesn't hurt so much."

 

Daniel wonders if it’s possible to fall in love with someone he barely knew - but he feels Jihoon's erratic breathing fall into a constant, calming swell of his chest against Daniel’s side. And suddenly he’s the one who feels at home.

 

“We’ll get you home,” Daniel promises, and he hesitates for a few seconds before thinking  _ screw it, I can ask for forgiveness later  _ as he plants a soft, gentle kiss on Jihoon’s forehead.  

 

“Goodnight, Park Jihoon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol all the comments in the previous chapter knew that the "stalker" was Ong - I don't know why I even tried to make it a cliffhanger xD
> 
> Anyways, the backstories are starting to spill out - and Onghwang is enjoying the most awkward first date ever.   
> I tried to make it fluffy enough but the angst backstory is ruining my momentum D: 
> 
> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated as always! :3 Let me know if ur enjoying the story (it motivates me to write the next chapter hihi)!


	5. Selfish

Jihoon hasn’t woken up beside anyone in the last four years - not anyone he likes, anyway. So when he opens his eyes to the sight of Kang Daniel’s face just inches from his own - he had a decision to make: yell at the boy who was invading his personal space (and who the hell gave him the right, anyway), or indulge himself and close the distance.

 

A hundred thoughts run across Jihoon’s mind in the silence of the early morning - lying down beside his unreasonably handsome bodyguard on the plush carpet just inches from the sofa, early morning sunlight streaming in through the glass panels that enveloped the entire living room, dressed in last night’s clothes and with last night’s taste keeping his throat dry, and a dull pounding at the base of his skull - but somehow everything does not matter because Kang Daniel was sleeping so peacefully, limbs splayed haphazardly on the pristine white carpet, his eyelids fluttering rapidly in dream. 

 

Jihoon wonders what people like Kang Daniel dreamed about - when they had friends they can see anytime they want, a family to come home to, decisions they can make without fear of repercussion.

 

A faint smile breaks across his chapped lips, and Jihoon tucks himself tighter against Daniel’s chest, breathing in the cologne that lingered on Daniel’s collar, and he angles his head up to stare at the older boy’s innocent face. 

 

_ What if I weren’t me _ , Jihoon thinks, tracing Daniel’s sharp features with his eyes as he finds his hands involuntary reaching over to take the boy into an embrace.  _ What if I was just a simple man like you? _

 

_ Would we have the same dreams? _

 

Jihoon finds that he likes himself better when he’s with Daniel - because when he’s with Daniel he can think of a million different universes that he’d rather exist in. 

 

“It’s selfish of me,” Jihoon whispers against Daniel’s chest that rose and fell in constant cadence with his breathing, “But I’m starting to feel like I don’t want to ever let go of you.”

 

***

 

When Jihoon opens his eyes once again, it’s almost noon and he smells something good coming from the kitchen. 

 

He’s no longer on the floor, and the comforting smell of peaches and warm cotton and Daniel was gone; he was on a king-sized bed, wrapped in thick comforters and wearing comfortable pajamas. 

 

He pushes himself up and rubs against his temples. The dull throb from earlier had become a full-on headache. 

 

“You’re awake!” Daniel cheerily greets, a plate of (burnt) bacon and eggs on a tray in his hands as he makes his way to Jihoon’s bedside. 

 

“How did I get here?” Jihoon mumbles, rolling his tongue around his mouth. 

 

“Seongwoo-hyung asked Mr. Yoo to drive us here last night,” Daniel answers as he puts down the tray on top of the comforter and hands Jihoon a full glass of water - which the younger greedily finishes in one go. Daniel hands him a second glass as soon as he reaches out a hand to return it. “He was busy giving Minhyun-hyung the worst date of his life.” 

 

“He  _ what _ ?” Jihoon nearly sputters out the second glass of water he was drinking. Seongwoo was  _engaged_ , for fuck's sake. “Since when did Seongwoo date random singers from seedy pubs?”   
  


“Since last night?” Daniel replies, pushing the tray of food towards Jihoon.

 

“Ah, about last night,” Jihoon takes an entire strip of bacon and stuffs it into his mouth -  _ why was he so hungry -  _ and stuffs his cheeks with the scrambled egg. “I couldn’t recall half of what happened after Seongwoo arrived.” 

 

“Mr. Yoo drove us home and I put your babbling drunken little self straight to bed,” Daniel’s response was too rehearsed that Jihoon had to raise an eyebrow as he sloshed down the food with some orange juice. 

 

He grins mischievously at Daniel, who was awkwardly sitting on the bedside with two empty glasses in his hands. Jihoon raises a fork to point accusingly at the older boy. “And you didn’t try anything?”

 

“Nothi-”

 

“Then why,” Jihoon smirks, enjoying the red that tinged Daniel’s ears and the worry that his face could not betray, “Was I on the floor, in your arms, just a few hours ago?” 

 

“Hey, I changed your clothes with my eyes closed,” Daniel whines, trying to avoid the question. Because what does he say to that?  _ I liked having you sleep in my arms? You look pretty when you sleep? I confessed to you and kissed you on the forehead, can I do it again? _

 

“You had me at your mercy,” Jihoon giggles, picking at the rest of his food with the fork. “And you didn’t try anything?” Jihoon loves how easy it was to get a rise out of Daniel and his pure, innocent intentions-

 

“I wanted to.” Daniel grumbles absent-mindedly before covering his mouth, dropping one of the glasses onto the floor. It rolls unscathed against the bedroom carpet, joining the fork that Jihoon had just dropped - both their eyes were suddenly blown wide in shock. 

 

“I-I’ll show myself out,” Daniel stammers, picking up the fallen utensils and marching stiffly out of the bedroom, pulling the door closed with a loud slam. Jihoon could hear the boy whining helplessly outside as he sat frozen on the bed. 

 

He was trying to stop the warmth that crept up his own cheeks and the butterflies that suddenly materialized in his barely-stuffed stomach. It felt like one of those teenage crushes he’d had years ago. 

 

His brain tells him that  _ this was wrong, it will just get them in trouble,  _ but his heart yelled louder,  _ screw it.  _

 

“Don’t worry, Kang Daniel,” a smug grin cracks on Jihoon’s lips as he uses his fingers to pick at the remainder of his food, “We’ll get there.” 

 

*** 

 

Minhyun trudges to the door of their apartment to stop the loud knocking that had been going on for the last five minutes. Jaehwan was too lazy to get it, so Minhyun grumbles his way to the door.

 

Damn that rich, awkward chaebol date he had last night. All the man did was gape at him, or tell him he was beautiful, or wax poetic about love songs. It was a train wreck of a date by anyone’s standards, and the logical next steps were to block the guy, tell Jaehwan that he was going to move out, start a new life in a new country, and get his name officially changed at a government office.

 

Instead, Minhyun had ended the night giving Ong Seongwoo his number, and agreeing to a second date. Whenever that is. 

 

Minhyun scratches at his head as he unlocks the bolts on the door (he inwardly screams because this cheap apartment did not even have a proper peep hole on the door, let alone an intercom system). As much as Seongwoo was a disaster date, the man was adorable. An adorable smile paired with an annoying (read: adorable) high trill of a voice. Minhyun had his fair share of men and women who took him on dates and looked at him like a piece of meat - but nobody asked him what his dreams were. Ong Seongwoo did, and he listened to Minhyun’s monologues as if enraptured. 

 

So  _ fine _ , if he really has to admit it, he did quite enjoy the date - so much so that he didn't notice that it was already sunrise when Ong Seongwoo got him to his apartment doorstep.

 

But now, Minhyun has only had four hours of sleep and this morning asshole had the audacity to knock on his door at noontime.   

 

“What do you want,” he grumbles, expecting a delivery boy or the next door neighbor. 

 

Instead he’s greeted by Seongwoo’s stupid (adorable) grin, the man dressed in a sharp royal blue suit and a small golden box of chocolates in his hands.

 

“Good morning,” the man chirps, “I’m here for our second date!” 

 

Minhyun hits his head on the door.

 

***

 

“Where are we?” Jihoon leans over to rest a hand on top of Daniel’s - who suddenly pushes the gear shift and the car stalls. 

 

Daniel looks at the boy - who had been  _ even more _ flirtatious the past few hours (Daniel didn’t think it could get worse) - as he restarts the engine. 

 

“Don’t bother me when I’m driving,” Daniel berates, because the last thing he wanted to do was kill Jihoon in a car crash. (He could imagine the headlines:  _ Bodyguard unable to guard the body of the handsome client he has fallen in love with, kills him in a staged vehicular accident instead _ .)

 

“Sorry,” Jihoon sits back against the seat - and Daniel wonders why he’s now sitting in front without earphones. “Can’t keep my hands to myself.” 

 

“So in your free time,” Daniel changes the conversation, “You walk around town looking like a fashion disaster?” 

 

Jihoon suddenly looked genuinely offended. The smaller boy was dressed in a multicolor hoodie and a camouflage overcoat, paired with jeans with huge folds at the bottom and powder blue sneakers. 

 

“This is the first time I dressed myself in months,” Jihoon huffs, pouting as he sank back into his seat. 

 

“It kinda works, though,” Daniel blurts out, attempting to remedy the situation. He thought this was a costume. “I mean if I wore that, the police would have stopped us on the highway and I would have gone straight to fashion jail.” 

 

“Fashion disaster, and now you’re insinuating I’m a  _ fashion criminal _ ?” Jihoon lets out a fake gasp. “Stop the car, you’re fired, I want Mr. Yoo to drive me.” 

 

“Well, does Mr. Yoo bring you to places like this?” Daniel finally stops the car along a curb and Jihoon turns to look outside. It’s a small cafe, in that part of town that Seongwoo tells him  _ never  _ to go to. 

 

“How did you know about this place?” Jihoon turns to Daniel, tone serious. 

 

“You leave a small feature phone under the car mat,” Daniel shrugs, avoiding eye contact. “I found it while cleaning, and accidentally answered a call.”

 

Jihoon’s face froze in a mask that betrayed no emotion - but underneath the cool facade, he could feel his throat catch. He wanted to get angry, because that was an invasion of privacy at best. He was scared, because did Daniel find out about him? He was hopeful, because having Kang Daniel around really did feel like freedom. 

 

“I thought it’d be nice for you to see Woojin again,” Daniel continues as he points to a familiar red-haired boy who was sitting alone inside the cafe.

  
  


***

 

“So, you’re Minhyun-hyung’s loverboy?” Jaehwan scratches at his stomach as he enters the flat’s dining room to find Minhyun and Seongwoo having brunch. 

 

“You told him I was your loverboy?” Seongwoo smiles brightly at Minhyun, who was too busy groaning.  _ Why can’t he have a normal, clean flatmate, and a normal, less enthusiastic date?  _

 

“No, and did you even get sleep last night?” Minhyun answers, and Jaehwan walks out of the room muttering  _ I don’t need to hear details, dammit _ .

 

“I booked a room in a nearby hotel,” Seongwoo answers, warily poking at the ramyeon that Minhyun prepared. He had never had a meal this  _ affordable _ . 

 

“Listen, Seongwoo,” Minhyun’s tone turns serious as he puts both hands under his chin. “You’re nice, but this is going too fast.” 

 

“Oh,” Seongwoo replies simply. “Should I have waited three days before I called? That’s what the internet said.”

 

“What I mean is,” Minhyun sighs,  _ it’s like talking with a four year old _ , “Stop professing your love every two seconds and giving expensive gifts - this chocolate box looks like it can buy a small village, for goodness’ sake.” 

 

“Sorry,” Seongwoo mutters, finally taking a bite of the ramyeon, hoping the heat from the broth would hide the embarrassment. “I’ve never...I’ve never dated anyone before.”

 

It was Minhyun’s turn to gape. 

 

“You’re handsome, you’re rich, you’ve got a job,” he says, taking his own bite of the ramyeon. “And you’ve never dated?” 

 

“I didn’t see the point,” Seongwoo answers. “I’ve been focused on my career ever since I can remember and it just wasn’t logical to fall in love.” 

 

Minhyun breathes out. So he’s one of  _ them _ . Corporate slaves looking for a good time. 

 

“Seongwoo,” he starts out. “Let me just clear the air right now and tell you, I’m not an escort - you can take your money elsewhere.” 

 

“What?” the other man scrunches his eyebrows in confusion before it dawned on him. “What, oh, no, no, hell, no; I’m not after that.”

 

The look the singer gives him was a cross between offense and disgust. 

 

“We-well, no, okay maybe I am after that? You know, like...eventually? Much much much later? BUT!” Seongwoo stammers out, feeling his chances at a third date going down the drain the more he spoke. “BUT! I know you said don’t profess my love every two seconds, but I saw you on stage and I’ve never wanted anything my whole life because I’ve always had everything I could ever ask for but I know I wanted... _ you _ .” 

 

Minhyun looks shocked for a whole two seconds before finally laughing out loud, leaving Seongwoo surprisingly silent. 

 

“I’m a bar singer, Seongwoo, I’m not exactly chaebol’s choice,” he explains. “You can’t be with me.”

 

“Well,” the other man replies almost immediately, offering a small smile. “I’m here right now, so why don’t we make the most of it?” 

 

Minhyun can’t lie to himself - he’s charmed. He rolls his eyes and glimpses a car rolling up the driveway. A car he’s seen so many times before. 

 

A cold feeling creeps up his spine as he urgently turns to Seongwoo.

 

“How about we go on that third date right now?” 

 

“I thought you said this is going too fas-”

 

“Now.” 

  
  


***

 

Daniel runs up the apartment as fast as he could - he had to leave Jihoon with Woojin at the cafe because Jaehwan called and said it was an emergency,  _ Minhyun-hyung was gone _ ,  _ Daniel come quick. _

 

Jihoon nodded, promised Daniel he wouldn’t go anywhere, Woojin was with him, he’ll be fine - and that was that. 

 

Daniel opens the door with shaking hands and sees Jaehwan standing frozen at the lobby. 

 

“I’m sorry,” Jaehwan says. “I didn’t have a choice, he made me call you.” 

 

“Where’s Minhyun-hyung?” Daniel asks, taking his shaking friend by the shoulder.

 

“He’s fine, he and Seongwoo were able to rush out before…” Jaehwan’s whisper falters. “Before he arrived.” 

 

It finally dawns to Daniel that this was a setup, there’s no emergency - and he pats Jaehwan on the shoulder reassuringly before walking slowly to his room in the flat.

 

Daniel stiffens and clenches his fists as he looks at the man who was going through the sheafs of papers on his desk, casually sitting on his worn computer chair like he owned the room and demanded attention.

 

“You have some nerve showing up here and threatening my friends,” Daniel starts as he refuses to approach, carefully standing just outside his room.

 

“Is that any way to greet your own father?” the old man replies, slowly turning in the seat to face Daniel while buttoning his sharp navy suit. “And is this any accommodation for a boy whose father can buy out this entire block?” Chairman Kang throws the sheafs of papers onto Daniel’s bed that was just a few steps away from where he sat.

 

“I never had a father,” Daniel hisses, nails digging sharply into his palm. 

 

“This talk again?” the old man groaned. This has been the latest of his many attempts to coax his son to come to his senses. He smothers a hand over his tired features - the boy was as stubborn as his late mother. 

 

"I'm old, Euigeon," his father croaks as he leans back on the chair. "I need you to start learning the ropes."

 

"It's Daniel," the boy snarls, barely moving from his stance on the doorway. "And I told you I want nothing to do with you,"

 

"I'm still your father, and you're still inheriting all of Kang Group of Companies when I go," comes the reply. "I wish you'd be more concerned about this."

 

"Well I wish you didn't up and leave me when I was a kid, and I wish you had the decency to show up when I mourned my mom on my own," Daniel spits out. "I don't need you or your money to make my way In this world."

 

"By doing what exactly? Driving cabs around without a license, busing at bars, and now a bodyguard for some boy who looks more like a girl than a man?" his father scoffed. "Get real, Euigeon."

 

“It’s  _ Daniel _ ,” the blonde repeats. “And I’ll show myself out of my own flat, since it seems like you have no intention to leave.”

 

“You’re wasting your hard-earned education and throwing your future just because of your  _ worthless pride _ ,” his father stands up finally, making to follow him.

 

Daniel stops and spins abruptly, marching loudly over to where his father stood and squarely faces the man as he tries to restrain himself. 

 

“I’d rather keep all of my  _ worthless pride _ than accept any help from a  _ worthless man  _ like you,” Daniel growls. “If I could bleed myself dry just to stop  _ your _ blood from running through my veins and be free from you completely, I would.”

 

The older man watches as Daniel storms out the apartment faster than he came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUN Park Jihoon's bodyguard is a chaebol
> 
> I hope this was paced correctly - it's a slightly quick burn for Nielwink and AN ABSOLUTE FAST BURN FOR ONGHWANG
> 
> But at least we're finally getting backstory answers? WHY DID I MAKE THE BACKSTORIES SO COMPLEX
> 
> Thank you so much for all the sweet comments so far! It encouraged me to churn this out despite the limited time I have to write ;;;; please do leave feedback - it doesn't go unappreciated! :D 
> 
> Until the next chapter!


	6. Downpour

Seongwoo isn't stupid.

 

He knows that this isn't how chaebols are supposed to act - he shouldn't be walking around unattended at a record shop café in downtown, but he is. He shouldn't be pretending he was sick so he can avoid the meetings he really should be attending right now, but he is.

  
  
He shouldn't be head over heels infatuated with a man he barely knew.

  
  
But he is.

 

He could hear his stepfather’s words bouncing on the back of his head - how being with this kind of company was going to  _debase_  his status. He’s heard that all his life -  _don’t play with the other kids, they’re not on our level, don’t act like a commoner, you’re better than everyone else_.

 

Ong Seongwoo doesn’t want to be better than everyone else - he wanted to  _be_  with everyone else. But it’s not like young company heirs like him had any choice.

 

He particularly hates how he sounds  _exactly_ like his stepfather - the man he’s grown to hate but tolerate - whenever he talks to Jihoon.  _Don’t meet up with your old friends, Hoonie - you’re better than them._

 

He had seen how the younger had glared angrily at him the first time. And what he mistook for contempt, Seongwoo would slowly learn, was how Jihoon masked the sadness that weighed heavily on his shoulders. The chaebol had tried to pull Jihoon out of his shell, wanted the boy to acknowledge that  _he was sad, he missed his old friends, he wanted this to be over,_  but Jihoon kept his head held high and pride perched even higher.

 

So if Jihoon wanted to pretend like everything was okay - and if Jihoon felt better if Seongwoo believed he was okay - then so be it; but he couldn’t help but worry for the boy he had grown so attached to.

 

“Order for Seongwoo,” calls a voice.

 

Thankfully, the drinks are served on the counter, knocking him out of his reverie as he thanks the barista and turns with two steaming cups in his hands to find his date in the shop.

  
Minhyun flips through the vinyl records near the corner as Seongwoo padded over with their drinks - a standard americano and a cup of chamomile tea. The singer flips through the records carefully, like he was contemplating a life decision and not the background music for a date with a man he had just met.

  
  
Seongwoo wants to shake himself out of whatever trance Hwang Minhyun put him in - because this was bound to end in something tragic. But he lays one long look at the boy who finally chooses a vinyl record and walks leisurely into one of the café booths, and something in Seongwoo just knows that he'll never find anyone quite like him ever again.

  
  
"What's this," he asks casually, finally over the initial awkwardness with which he presented himself. Seongwoo puts down the two cups in his hands on the coffee table, taking the lounge chair opposite Minhyun as the other man pulled the booth door closed and set the vinyl onto the player.

  
  
"Downpour," Minhyun tries to smile back. The other man crosses his eyebrows - because something was definitely wrong. Minhyun had rushed him out of the apartment in mere seconds, waving it off as a third date - but it came off like an emergency affair. He had thrown on a turtleneck and grabbed a scarf and pulled Seongwoo out, hissing to Jaehwan as they went. ("No matter what happens, don't call Daniel.")

  
  
He wanted to ask what the rush was about, but instead, Seongwoo nods as a soft piano filled the record shop booth. It was one of those café's where you picked a record and listened to music in a small, intimate booth - and if he could be this close to the ethereal singer, he can hold off his questions for later.

  
  
He finds himself closing his eyes to the relaxing melody, until the vocal began and his eyes snapped open. He looks at Minhyun inquiringly, but the other man simply sips his chamomile tea.

  
  
"It's your voice," Seongwoo blurts out, leaning forward.

  
  
"I'm surprised you can recognize it that fast," Minhyun laughs softly. "Jaehwan's in it too."

  
  
Seongwoo waits quietly for Minhyun to continue, and the singer finally places his cup back on the table.

  
  
"I turned my back on everything I have to follow a dream," Minhyun started. "But it hasn't worked out so far - this is the only song I have on the market and nobody even knows it."

  
  
Minhyun laughs bitterly, and Seongwoo feels his own heart breaking as the song crescendos into the chorus. In front of him was a man who was brave enough to give up everything in pursuit of a dream, and here he was, a man who has lived his whole life as his step-parents designed. There had been no room for dreams.

  
  
_Will it stop now?_ __  
_These raindrops, these tears?_  


  
"We used to sing it for Daniel," Minhyun adds when he finds Seongwoo listening intently. "It's not my story to tell, but he wasn't always the big ball of sunshine he is now."

  
  
"What is Daniel to you, anyway?" Seongwoo asks, trying to lighten the mood by pouting and acting jealous.

  
  
"Our fathers worked together," Minhyun explains, chewing on his lip at the half-truth because his father worked as a lowly employee in one of the Kang companies. "I went to school with Daniel, and he - he was the only one who treated me like I existed."

  
  
Minhyun's mind flashes back to the memories of being ostracized in the company of corporation heirs -  the son of a lowly accountant who got lucky with an elite school scholarship. It didn't help either that his real passion was in music - because everyone else was busy writing the best marketing plans, the best financial analyses, the best new business venture idea. Only Daniel encouraged him to pursue his true passion.

  
  
"How can anyone ignore someone as perfect as you," Seongwoo scoffs.

  
  
"You'd be surprised at how people treat people when you don't think they're worthy," Minhyun replies. "I'm honestly still surprised that a chaebol wants to go on a date with a penniless dreamer - it's like you're playing an experiment with me or something."

  
  
"Stop waiting for the shoe to fall," Seongwoo holds out a hand and tentatively takes Minhyun's in his, giving it a light squeeze. "I'm not a chaebol, I'm Seongwoo. And you're not a penniless singer, you're Minhyun."

  
  
Minhyun looks up at the man who was surprisingly making sense despite the proximity. Seongwoo flashes him a winning smile, "And Seongwoo and Minhyun can go on dates without anyone asking why."

  
  
_It’s alright,_ _  
_It’s just a passing downpour.__

 

***

 

Jihoon is silent as he takes the seat across Woojin - a face he hasn’t seen in almost a year.

 

Daniel had begged off a few moments earlier, saying that there was an emergency at their flat. He told Jihoon he’d pick him up in two hours - and Jihoon agreed.

 

But now there’s a knot in his stomach as he refused to meet the gaze of his smiling best friend. There’s so many questions that need to be asked, so many answers he didn’t want to hear, and everytime he looks at Woojin’s face he’s reminded of everything he’s lost just to gain what he has.

 

“What,” Woojin’s southern drawl comes painfully familiar, “Don’t tell me you can’t recognize me anymore, Park?”

 

“How can I forget that ugly face, Park,” Jihoon relaxing into a smirk before biting worriedly at his lip, relieved that they can at least banter like they usually do over the phone. “I’m more surprised you still recognize me.”

 

It was meant to come out as a joke, but it shot straight through both of them.

 

“You’ll always be Park Jihoon,” Woojin scratches at his nape. “No matter what happens. And we’ll still accept you, no matter wha-”

 

“How are they?” Jihoon ignores his friend’s attempt at consolation.

 

“They’re doing much better,” comes the reply. “Your old man still hasn’t woken up from the coma, but the doctors say his brain activity is positive.”

 

“And Eomma?”

 

“She misses you a lot. Asks me every single time why you don’t visit - I just lie and tell her you’re fully booked with modeling gigs and you’re always out of the country.” Woojin answers. “She...she wants you to come home.”

 

Woojin’s heart twists as he sees Jihoon’s expression fall.

 

“Come home, Jihoonie,” Woojin’s voice drops to a low whisper.

 

“I want to,” Jihoon squeezes at the hem of his jacket. “More than anything else.”

 

He looks up to look Woojin squarely in the eyes.

 

“But I can’t face them and tell them what we - what  _I_  had to do just so they can live comfortably,” Jihoon mumbles.

 

Woojin is silent for a while, and Jihoon quickly adds, “But don’t you dare feel bad about me, Park Woojin - I’ve got it worlds better than you.”

 

Woojin sighs. He knows Jihoon just says he’s fine so nobody would worry - and he does it so well that Woojin almost believes it.

 

“Like hell you do,” Woojin throws back. “I’ve got the dance studio ready, just give me a few years and I’ll be making as much money as your pretty-ass self.”

 

Jihoon picks up a bit of the pastry on the plate and throws it at his friend. “I’ve always known you thought my ass was pretty.”

 

“Pretty  _big_ , you overgrown piglet.”

 

“Remind me again how it feels to look at your face in the mirror and see a horror movie,” Jihoon sticks out a tongue as he kicks Woojin under the table.

 

Woojin flicks a grain of rice in Jihoon’s face, and Jihoon laughs.

 

Just like when they were kids.

 

*******

 

As scheduled, the Benz arrives in front of the cafe after two hours - and Woojin raises an eyebrow at Jihoon.

 

“So, do I have to wait another year to see you again?” he asks as Jihoon types out a short message to Daniel.

 

“Depends if my new bodyguard can sneak me out often,” Jihoon responds, throwing a few dollars on the bill plate.

 

“What kind of bodyguard brings you to this kind of place?” Woojin grins.

 

“The best kind,” Jihoon answers, preparing to stand, and he doesn’t notice the smile on his face until Woojin points it out.

 

“Seriously?” Woojin rolls his eyes in disbelief. “You’ve got that chaebol prettyboy Seongwoo wrapped around your fingers and you have a crush on your  _bodyguard_?”

 

“Like I’d ever fall for a chaebol,” Jihoon answers. “Rich, entitled, thinks they’re so much better than the rest of us. I only like Seongwoo because he’s actually a nice person, but he’s starting to sound just like his stepfather.”

 

“So you go for...a random bodyguard,” Woojin concludes, following Jihoon out to the cafe entrance.

 

“He has abs,” Jihoon shoots back and Woojin hits his face on his palm.  

 

“And you know this  _how_?” Woojin groans.

 

“Ran my hands over his body while he was sleeping,” Jihoon shrugs casually. In truth he only hugged Daniel last night - but he could swear he felt abs somewhere there.

 

“You creep me out sometimes,” Woojin pushes his friend’s shoulder, almost causing Jihoon to fall down the steps. The smaller boy roughly shoves back, and Woojin had to remind himself that despite the pretty face, Jihoon was more a thug than he’ll ever be. “This bodyguard of yours better be a handsome motherfucker, or I’m judging you for real.”

 

Jihoon walks backward towards the Benz as he waves goodbye at Woojin.

 

“He’s an angel,” Jihoon smirks before opening the door and sliding into the passenger seat.

 

***

 

Jihoon looked down at the watch on his wrist and stands up. It should not take Daniel more than fifteen minutes to park the car in the apartment’s nearly-empty parking lot at this hour.

 

Jihoon was surprised that Daniel was silent throughout their ride home, opting to blast loud music inside the car for once. Jihoon thought about asking what happened, but the dark expression on Daniel’s face was something he had never seen before - so he decided to let it go and opted to look outside at the passing buildings instead.

 

When Daniel finally stopped the car in front of the apartment driveway, he turned to smile weakly at Jihoon.

 

“You can go up to the room on your own right?” he suggested, unlocking the door on Jihoon’s side. “I’ll just park the car.”

 

Jihoon had to him, a question hanging in the air, but he chose to nod, “Don’t keep me waiting.”  
  
Daniel finally grinned at that, but the sadness remained in his eyes.

 

So Jihoon finds himself taking the elevator down to the apartment’s parking lot, and sure enough, it was almost empty save the Benz parked on the premium lot.

 

The engine was still running and he sees Daniel still behind the wheel, staring ahead at nothing in particular.

 

Jihoon walks over to the passenger’s side and tries to pull at the door - which Daniel had left unlocked. The older boy jumps when Jihoon sits himself in, the loud music reverberating through the vehicle, but still says nothing.

 

Jihoon changes the song on the playlist - from the loud thumping bass of Daniel’s earlier track, it shifted into a soft piano melody.

 

“My favorite color is pink,” Jihoon starts out of nowhere, and Daniel glances at him but continued to face forward. “Woojin being an idiot makes me laugh until my sides hurt, and  _Always_  is a song that makes me cry.”

 

“Why are you telling me this,” Daniel finally speaks up, his voice cracking a bit.

 

“Remember the first night we met and you told me you didn’t know me?” Jihoon turns in his seat. “Those were the questions you asked so you get to know me better.”

 

Daniel smiles. “You remembered?”

 

“I almost never get asked those kinds of questions,” Jihoon replies, almost shy - and Daniel wonders where flirty, confident Park Jihoon went. There’s a comfortable silence between them before Jihoon adds, “I’m not going to ask you what happened, but I do want you to know I’m just here.”

 

 _Will it stop now?_ _  
_These raindrops, these tears?__

 

The song that Jihoon had skipped to on his playlist just had to be this one, Daniel thinks as he feels a familiar tightness in his chest. He feels everything all over again like it’s fresh - how his father did not want him until he realized Daniel was going to be his only heir, how many sacrifices his mother had made, how Daniel wasn’t even by her side when she passed because his father had sent him to study abroad - and he finds himself angry and sad and confused all at the same time.

 

He looks at Jihoon and the infinite secrets that the boy seemed to have - but for all his lies and hidden truths, he reminded Daniel so much of himself. Except Jihoon wanted to run back home, and Daniel wanted to run far from it.

 

And maybe, somewhere in between all the running - they found each other.

 

“Thank you,” the older boy smiles, slightly comforted by Jihoon’s words and his mere presence. Daniel kills the engine, pushes his seat back, and prepares to turn off the radio. “Let’s get you up to your room, sorry for making you-”

 

Suddenly, Jihoon pushes back against him, maneuvering across the awkward space in between them, and takes Daniel in a tight embrace, burying his head against Daniel's shoulder. The older boy’s eyes blew wide at the affection that he didn’t expect - for all Jihoon's flirting and his bawdy comments, this felt surprisingly tender.

 

“This is  _thank you_  for letting me see my best friend again,” Jihoon whispers against Daniel’s skin, “And it's also  _I promise you we’ll be just fine._ ”

 

Jihoon doesn’t know if he says it for Daniel, or if he says it for himself - then he decides that he says it for the both of them.

 

Daniel wraps an arm around Jihoon's waist and breathes in; and he wants so badly to believe that they're both going to be just fine.

 

 _It’s alright,_ _  
_It’s just a passing downpour.__

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that concludes this chapter!
> 
> I'm rethinking how the plot is going to unfold for Nielwink - wasn't going to post this chapter but let's see where it goes from here!  
> It's becoming a lot more hurt/comfort than unresolved tension BECAUSE I DIDN'T REALIZE HOW HEAVY THEIR BACKSTORIES WERE UNTIL I WROTE IT
> 
> Also might not be able to update as often because work is killing me right now - but still hoping for at least a weekly update?  
> Please leave comments/kudos - any feedback is appreciated because I have a beginning and ending for this fic but the middle part is starting to confuse me haha LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF IT SO FAR? I might be dragging it out a bit too much BUT WE'VE GOT SOME MAJOR VILLAIN THINGIES GOING ON NEXT CHAPTER that might tear apart our brand new almost-couples
> 
> PS the song is Downpour by IOI, but the version from P101 S2 :3

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I was supposed to take a longer hiatus but this AU really wanted to be written ;;;;   
> Think of it as a sort-of CFC sequel but this time Jihoon's the boss hehe
> 
> This is my first shot at writing OngHwang as a secondary pair, so I'm excited/nervous to get to that part of the story!
> 
> Thanks and appreciation go to Anne and Chul for their early feedback on the fic~! Will try to keep a steady update - hopefully work sched cooperates ;3
> 
> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated and motivate me to write more, so if you enjoyed the fic in any way please don't hesitate to let me know! 
> 
> Alternatively you can drop by [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/cheesehoonie) or [CC](http://www.curiouscat.me/cheesehoonie) to shout at me :3


End file.
